Coaches, scorekeepers and parents are encouraged to report youth sports events on this interactive blog. Selected reports will be used in print as the youth sports highlight of the day on the Plus section cover.

Youth sports for week ending July 3

To file your results, just add your report as a comment here. Look for information from the youth sports blog in the newspaper during the week. Check the daily youth sports highlight on the bottom left corner of Plus section cover.

Make sure comment clearly indicates the event, the score, the teams involved, and the sport. There shouldn’t be more than three players used in each comment. Please use an individual statistic (e.g.- points, home runs, goals) to highlight what each player did well.

5 Responses to Youth sports for week ending July 3

Steal Breeze Elite 16-U finished third in the national qualifier in Sunnyvale, which earned them a berth in the ASA national tournament to be held in Chattanooga, Tennessee where teams from all over the United States will play to see who is the best in the nation. Twenty of the best girls’ fast pitch softball teams met in Sunnyvale to compete for three spots to advance to Chattanooga. This year’s 16-U team consists of girls from Novato and Petaluma. Steal Breeze drew a tough draw and had to play two games on Friday. Two losses ends the teams chances of qualifying.
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Game 1 – Friday
Steal Breeze vs. Salinas Wild Cats
Final Score: Steal Breeze 5 – Salinas 0
Ashley Ludlow pitched Steal Breeze Elite to a 5-0 victory over the Salinas Wildcats. Ludlow pitched 4 innings, allowing one hit and ten strike-outs. Key hitters for Steal Breeze were: Neika Peterson was 1 for 2 with a double and an RBI. Brie Gerheardt was 1for 1 with an RBI, Giana Bruschera was one for three with an RBI, Courtney Ludlow was one for one with an RBI.

Game 2 – Friday
Steal Breeze Elite vs. South Bay Stars
Final Score: Steal Breeze 1 – South Bay 6
Steal Breeze faced a very strong South Bay Storm team that shut down the Steal Breeze Elite; however, Steal Breeze will get their revenge on Sunday.

Game 3 – Saturday
Steal Breeze vs. Vallejo Hurricanes
Final Score: Steal Breeze 11 – Vallejo 1
Steal Breeze came out with bats a-blazing collecting 9 hits in four innings as the mercy rule came into play. Dani Albini pitched three innings allowing no hits, no runs, and five strike-out, and no walks and earning the victory. Key hitters were: Ursyla Baumgarten was 2 for 2 with a double and an RBI, Dani Albini was 2 for 2 with a double and two RBI’s, Nieka Peterson was 1 for 2 with three RBI’s, Heather Zeeb was 1 for 1 with a double and an RBI, and Dana Thomsen was 1 for 1 with an RBI.

Game 4 – Saturday
Steal Breeze vs. South Bay Magic
Final Score: Steal Breeze 6 – Magic 0
Ashley Ludlow pitched 5 innings allowig 2 hits, nine strike outs, and three walks. Key hitters were: Bridget Pacchetti was 2 for 4. Dani Albini was 3 for 3 with 2 RBI’s and also a home run over the fence. Giana Bruschera was 2 for 4 with one RBI.

Game 6 – Sunday
Steal Breeze vs. South Bay Stars
Final Score: Steal Breeze 4 – Stars 1
Revenge happens. Dana Thomsen pitched 7 innings allowing one run, two hits, and seven strike-outs and no earned runs. Key hitters were: Dani Albini was 1 for 3 with an RBI, Neika Peterson (a.k.a. Sparky) was 3 for 4 with an RBI. Courtney Ludlow was one for three with an RBI. Dana Thomsen was 1 for 1.

Game 7 – Sunday
Steal Breeze vs. Cal Impact for the last spot to advance to Chaganooga, Tennessee.
Final Score: Steal Breeze 2 – Cal Impact 0
Ashley Ludlow pitched 7 innings with one hit, 17 strikeouts, and two walks. Key hitters were: Dani Albini was one for three with an RBI, Giana Bruschera was one for three, Dana Thomsen was one for one, Carli Reinhard was one for two. Also, Carli Reinhard had an outstaning game behind the plate for Steal Breeze.

The Mill Valley 9/10 All Star team defeated Novato South by a score of 10-4 at Dunphy Field in Novato on Thursday evening for their first victory in the California District 3 All Star tournament. Josh Herz smashed two doubles in the first inning to go along with Andrew Frames big two RBI single, and Ben Wenig knocked two in with a double in the second. On the mound, Alex Bires and Eli Larson combined for 12 strikeouts over six innings to secure the victory.

The IJ publishes a daily roundup of Little League games. Coaches, scorekeepers or anyone with game details can call 382-7307 as soon as possible after each game. Results are taken up until 9:30 p.m. No late results please.

Novato Babe Ruth
Division winners Marlins and Mariners both had to overcome opening round loses to win their Division Playoff Titles and earn their way into the Novato Babe Ruth “World Series” game. The Marlins defeated the Giants 6-4 and 3-2 on a two out single by Tion Timmel in the bottom of the fifth and a complete game by Sean Springer to advance, and the Mariners defeated the Angels 6-3, and rallied to take a 9-8 comeback win over the Angles in nine innings to set up the Championship Game.

Nick Clary drew a walk to open the game, and promptly stole second. Louis Etcheveste drove him in with a single to give the Marlins a quick 1-0 lead. The Mariners took the lead in the third with a three run rally capped by a sacrifice bunt attempt by Jackson Wegner that sailed just over the pitcher’s head for a bunt single. Robbie Cassee’s long double began a two run fifth inning that built the Mariner lead to 5-1. The Marlins battled back with a four run sixth inning to tie the game at 5-5. The Marlins took the lead at 7-5 in the top of the seventh, but had to hang on as the Mariners were not done just yet. After having two runners thrown out on the bases, the Mariner still had the tying run at second when Marcus Chiu finally induced a pop out to second to send the Marlins dashing to the center of the diamond with a 7-6 victory, and their first league championship. The big crowd had been treated to a great game between two champions, and Marlins Manager Jean Etcheveste saluted the Mariners in his post game comments.

Novato Babe Ruth will begins its well regarded Fall Ball program with tryouts in late July or early August. Competitive games are played until October. This years Fall ball is open to players throughout Marin County who will be 13 through 15 “league” age by May 1 2012. Details can be found at the league website – novatobaberuth.org.

Blake Killingsworth of Mill Valley played on the Pacific Rim U14 boys team of Pleasant Hill that placed 3rd in the open division of the junior national volleyball championships out of 32 teams nationwide that qualified for the tournament. Facing elimination in the second game of the bronze medal match, down 17-20, Blake had 5 consecutive serves including a service ace as Pacific Room tied the game and went on to a 6-25, 26-24, 15-11 victory.